


Stars

by AgentBertbeer



Series: Merthurweek 2020 [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Banter, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Stars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:15:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28216062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentBertbeer/pseuds/AgentBertbeer
Summary: Day 1: “You’re an idiot.” “But you love me.” + FluffArthur shows Merlin his favourite place
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: Merthurweek 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2132166
Comments: 3
Kudos: 48
Collections: Merthur Week 2020





	Stars

Arthur and Merlin stumbled into their chamber after a long day full of meetings with the council. It had taken until late in the evening, until Arthur had put a stop to it, declaring that they would continue the next day. 

The moon was already shining through the window and George was no longer on duty. 

“I am going to punch one of those old farts in the face if they are going to continue like this, no magic necessary.” Merlin groaned in frustration. He massaged his temples in an attempt to calm down, he had been all day. Not that it was helping him very well. 

“Hey,” Arthur said, took Merlin’s hands and brought them to his lips. “It’s only been a few days since you have been declared court sorcerer. You can’t expect them to change their minds in such a short time.”

“I know.” Merlin sighed. “But why must it be this hard?” He dropped their hands, so they lay loosely between the two of them, closed his eyes and rested his head against Arthur’s forehead. Arthur closed his eyes too, in a moment of pure bliss. They could stand there for hours and Arthur would not grow tired of it. 

But Merlin interrupted it to give him a soft kiss before telling him: “You’re getting scruffy.” 

Arthur gave him a pouty look (he would néver admit he was pouting, he would rather call it... softly brooding), he rubbed his chin just to check. He hadn’t shaved in a while, he had been a bit busy. “You think I should keep it? Grow a beard?” 

Merlin shook his head. “Absolutely not.” He walked back to Arthur and took a few fingers through his hair. He loved going through Arthur’s hair. “But I would lie if I didn’t think the stubble looked good.” 

‘What do you want me to do with it?” 

Merlin shrugged and walked away again, now to the bed, where he started pulling off his boots. “Jury’s still out.” 

“Don’t tell me that! I want to know.” 

“I don’t know Arthur, but since you are a full-grown adult I assume you can make your own decisions.”

Arthur sat down next to Merlin and started tugging at his own boots. “But?”

“Arthur, I don’t really care.”

“But no beard?”

Merlin pulled a face. “Absolutely not.” 

Arthur laughed and rolled his eyes. Suddenly, he didn’t feel so tired anymore. That was one of the effects Merlin had on him, every time they were together, it felt as if the weight of the world was taken off his shoulders. He also remembered something that he had been wanting to do with Merlin for ages, but hadn’t had the chance to do yet. 

“I want to show you something.” He grabbed Merlin’s hand and led him to the door. 

“What are we doing?” Merlin asked him, raising one eyebrow. A trait he had probably picked up from Gaius. 

“You’ll have to wait and see.” Arthur was already pulling him out of the door. 

“Arthur!” Merlin whisper-yelled. “Wait.”

Arthur turned around. “What?”

“We’re not wearing any shoes.” He was right. Both of them were bare-foot on the cold floor of the hallway. 

“So?”

Merlin gave him a judging look. “Do you really need me to tell you we should wear shoes?”

“Merlin, for once in your life, would it kill you to have some fun? For me?” Arthur took both of Merlin’s hands and looked him in the eyes, knowing Merlin would give in. 

“Fine,” Merlin grumbled. He let Arthur lead him through the many hallways of the castle. It didn’t take long for them to start running, laughing as they went. They tried to shush each other, but it only induced more laughing. They went back to walking for a short time, when they passed a pair of guards. Not that they were very good at stifling their giggles. 

It also didn’t take long before running off again. What they hadn’t noticed, was that when they passed the two guards, one of them slightly hung his head in defeat. Passing the other guard a small bag, full of coins. 

Arthur brought him past more hallways and up a bunch of circular stairs, up a tower, until they reached the top. That is, until Arthur started to climb out of the window. 

“What are you doing?” Merlin hissed. 

“Climbing out the window?” Arthur said, like he had stated the obvious. 

“I can see that, but… why are you climbing out the window?” Merlin asked, emphasizing on the ‘why’. 

“I’ll tell you when we get there.” Arthur said impatiently. He was now standing on the ridge. It was a wide ridge, no need for extremities to balance on it. 

Merlin shook his head. “You’re an idiot.”

“But you love me.” Arthur said, already pulling him over the edge, on the ridge. “Besides. You’ll be there in case we fall.”

“You’re right I love you, you clotpole. But need I remind you, I cannot actually fly.”

“That’s a problem for future us.” 

They walked over the ridge, until they were standing on the middle of it. Arthur sat down, legs dangling over the roof tiles, he motioned for Merlin to sit down next to him. 

“So… why are we here?” Merlin asked. 

“We are here because of that.” Arthur pointed at the sky. It was a summer night, but the winds kept the air relatively cold. There were no clouds in sight, nor a moon to be seen. Just the stars, who shone like bright little fires in the sky. There were hundreds of them. Merlin recognized a few of the constellations. Like the Fort Of Gwydion, and the Horse of Llyr. Many of them he didn’t recognize. 

“I used to come here a lot, when I was a kid.” Arthur said, staring at the sky. Merlin looked at him, he loved that look that Arthur had on his face, the stress of the last few days had disappeared, and his eyes were filled with admiration. His face was a mix of pure delight and tranquillity. The stars in the sky were beautiful, yes, but they did not compare. Not to what was right there before him.

“You did?” 

“I did. Whenever lessons were too boring, or I had enough of training, or enough of looking at the stuffy books with Geoffrey.” He paused, looking back at those memories filled him with a wave of nostalgia. “It was a place to escape.” What he didn’t say was that he would also come here at night when he was younger, because he missed his mother, despite never knowing her. 

No-one knew about his hiding-spot, that was something Arthur was sure of. Whether it was because no-one had been interested enough to look for him when he was younger to these extents, he wasn’t sure. He also wasn’t sure if he wánted to know. 

He sighed, trying to shake the bad thought out of his mind, and slowly rested his head on Merlin’s shoulder. Merlin rested his head on him in return. 

“D’you think we’ll be alright?” Arthur asked. Next to the stars, you could see the lower town past the citadel, and the bigger part of the land

Merlin gave him a small kiss on his hair and softly said, with enough determination to convince a kingdom. “I know we’ll be.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Thank you all for checking this out! It's my first time writing for Merlin, so I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
